PPRuNe Forums - UK MoD bungs Leonardo £60m to design and develop uncrewed ASW helicopter demonstrator

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UK MoD bungs Leonardo £60m to design and develop uncrewed ASW helicopter demonstrator

Quote:

A cutting-edge uncrewed aircraft demonstrator will be designed and developed in a £60 million contract awarded to Leonardo.

£60 million over four years to design and develop an uncrewed helicopter demonstrator
Supporting up to 100 highly skilled UK jobs at Leonardo’s Yeovil site
Delivering innovative defence capability to support UK Armed Forces

Driving innovation in future naval capability, the project will support up to 100 highly skilled engineering jobs at Leonardo’s Yeovil site.

Testing the viability of larger uncrewed aircraft for the Royal Navy, the three-tonne demonstrator – less than a fifth of the weight of a Merlin helicopter - could provide an innovative alternative to existing aircraft for tracking adversary submarines.

Trials will test the capability of the aircraft to drop “sonobuoys” – small tube-shaped buoys that track and communicate submarine activity – enabling the aircraft to alert a crewed helicopter and call for support if a submarine is located. Designed to operate at lower cost than crewed aircraft, capabilities derived from the demonstrator could also reduce the exposure of Royal Navy personnel to hostile threats.
...

Capable of carrying a large payload, combined with the ability to operate in harsh environmental conditions, the aircraft could also demonstrate its utility across a range of requirements.

Beyond Anti-Submarine Warfare, the project will address other potential uses including ship to ship resupply and casualty evacuation.

So Robolooker using LINK 16 alerts the ship to POSSUB/PROBSUB at posn x and sub skipper hovers while crew and cab are launched, trundle to posn x, establish it's CERTSUB and prosecute attack on him. Surely it needs to carry weapons as well as sensors? Or are we talking a 'swarm' of robolookers with a single cab positioned up the presumed threat axis?

"If successful, the new aircraft would provide a platform capable of delivering improved surveillance and intelligence, enabling crewed Royal Navy helicopters to re-deploy on alternative missions if required and bolstering UK defence capability."
hmmm:confused::eek:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/6...ts-100-uk-jobs

Sixty years ago, there was DASH, but it had a few problems so the USN replaced it with LAMPS.
The USN has been putting, in the past decade or so, unmanned MQ-8C Fire Scout drones (Bell 206 variants) on their ships. (Usually alongside a LAMPS detachment)
For a not too expensive unmanned aircraft that can carry about 6,000 pounds of payload, there's the KMax (which was looked into as a Vertrep replacement in the 90's)
This project with Leonardo looks to be a step in a similar direction with more up to date kit.
Looking forward to seeing how this works out.

And give £50M to Sikorsky to be a sub-contractor and take the rest as profit? :bored:

https://www.defensenews.com/land/202...he-first-time/

I understand the MQ-8C is now being used to extend the ISR horizon of Littoral Control Ships rather than paired with MH-60s. I think the DASH is a better parallel in its weight category but that was I believe to enable rotary ops from obsolescent ships with no room for a flight deck for a manned helo. The US approach seems to be uncrewed aircraft of a similar size and capacity to crewed whereas the Uk is looking for something cheap and cheerful in terms of acquisition and running costs, and for the RN to address the perennial problems in recruiting and retaining aircrew.